The taxonomy of two similar frogs from the top of the Drakensberg escarpment, the Maluti River Frog and the Phofung River Frog is not settled. I examine the relevant types and type descriptions, and discover a number of errors in the literature. Some of the recent taxonomic changes were found to be unsupported. The Maluti River Frog is assigned to Amietia vertebralis (Hewitt, 1927), and the Pho...

The effect of 3 months exposure to short day length (L:D, 9:15) on spermatogenesis in R. cyanophlyctis was studied. There was no difference in the qualitative and quantitative aspect of spermatogenesis between control frogs exposed to ambient photoperiod (L:D, 12.16:11.44) and frogs exposed to short day light. The present findings indicate that light has no role in spermatogenesis in the frog.

Darwin first recognized the importance of episodic intercontinental dispersal in the establishment of worldwide biotic diversity. Faunal exchange across the Bering Land Bridge is a major example of such dispersal. Here, we demonstrate with mitochondrial DNA evidence that three independent dispersal events from Asia to North America are the source for almost all lizard taxa found in continental ...

The "good genes" hypothesis predicts that mating preferences enable females to select mates of superior genetic quality. The genetic consequences of the preference shown by female gray tree frogs for long-duration calls were evaluated by comparing the performance of maternal half-siblings sired by males with different call durations. Offspring of male gray tree frogs that produced long calls sh...

Abstract The alfalfa weevil ( Hypera postica Gyllenhal, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a major pest of crops. Chemical control measures are inefficient, but the larvae often infested by parasitoid wasps genus Bathyplectes Förster (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), which offer potential biological strategy. development effective requires identification species, conventional methods involve rearing par...

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The evolution of parental care and egg size has attracted considerable attention and theoretical debate. Several different hypotheses have been proposed concerning the trajectories of parental care and egg size evolution and the order of specific evolutionary transitions. Few comparative studies have investigated the predictions of these hypotheses. Here, we investigate the evolutionary associa...

INTRODUCTION T H E literature on regeneration in the central nervous system of vertebrates has been reviewed exhaustively by Windle (1955, 1956). Adult fish and urodeles reestablish physiological and anatomical continuity of the spinal cord after it has been completely transected while adult anurans (Piatt & Piatt, 1958) and mammals on the whole do not. In all groups of vertebrates regeneration...